The weather has been chilly this week, but the Appellate Division has been heating things up. That court issued published opinions today and on the preceding two days. Here are summaries of those decisions....
Township of Jackson v. Getzel Bee, LLC, ___ N.J. Super. ___ (App. Div. 2025). This eminent domain opinion by Judge Berdote Byrne involved two consolidated cases. Plaintiff Township sought to acquire two pieces of property owned by defendants, .Block 21601, Lots 84 and 90. When defendants did not respond, plaintiff commenced condemnation proceedings....
On Monday, February 3, a panel of judges on Part A will hear oral argument in In re Application of Barbara Eames and William Eames Pursuant to N.J.S.A. 1:7-1 and N.J.S.A. 1:7-4 Seeking to Void L. 2021, c. 375. The cited statutes permit petitioners to seek the original jurisdiction of the Appellate Division....
In re Estate of Michael D. Jones, ___ N.J. ___ (2025). As summarized here, this case involved whether an ex-spouse's rights as the pay-on-death beneficiary on her deceased ex-husband's U.S. savings bonds were superseded by the parties' divorce. The couple's divorce settlement agreement ("DSA") required, as relevant here, that the ex-husband ("Michael") pay the ex-wife ("Jeanine") $200,000 in installments over time. The DSA did not specifically provide for the disposition of savings bonds....
N.A.R., Inc. v. Eastern Outdoor Furnishings A/K/A JC Partners, LLC, ___ N.J. Super. ___ (App. Div. 2025). This opinion by Judge Sabatino is an example of a party that "won the battle but lost the war." Defendant/third-party plaintiff Eastern Outdoor Furnishings ("Eastern Outdoor") asserted that third-party defendant AMD Direct, Inc. ("AMD") violated the New Jersey Franchise Practices Act, N.J.S.A. 56:10-1 et seq. ("NJFPA"), in terminating Eastern Outdoor's alleged franchise to sell AMD's products. The Law Division granted summary judgment to AMD, holding that there was no written agreement that established a franchise relationship....
Wiggins v. Hackensack Meridian Health, ___ N.J. ___ (2025). This medical malpractice wrongful death appeal arose under the Affidavit of Merit ("AOM") statute, N.J.S.A. 2A:53A-26 et seq., and the Patients First Act, N.J.S.A. 2A:53A-41. Those statutes, whose history Justice Fasciale laid out in detail, require, in short, that a malpractice plaintiff provide an affidavit of merit from an expert who specializes in the same "specialty or subspecialty" as the defendant doctor if that doctor has a specialty....
With the coming of the new year, this blog went onto a new platform. That fact, along with a Supreme Court oral argument and a Committee on Character hearing last week, has left this blog behind as 2025 begins. Our appellate courts, however, have been active. Here are summaries of their January 2025 published opinions to date:...
Hoboken for Responsible Cannabis, Inc. v. City of Hoboken Planning Bd., ___ N.J. Super. ____ (App. Div. 2024). This land use decision, written by Judge Firko, is the final published...
The Supreme Court announced that it has granted certification in four new matters. All of those involve unpublished opinions of the Appellate Division. In State v. Taylor, the question presented...
Rodriguez v. Shelbourne Spring, LLC, ___ N.J. ___ (2024). The first signed opinion of the current Term was by Justice Fasciale. The Court addressed issues relating to whether Hartford Underwriters...